Every country and every city has its own scary tales, based either on real events, or on fictions. Sometimes it is not easy to figure out what is true and what is fiction. There are such fables in the Nizhny Novgorod region, telling about ghosts, underwater monsters, flooded cities and mystical forests. Lena Mityagina, author of TRAVELBLOGNN, has collected eight of the most mystical legends of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Do you believe in them?
Ghosts of the Kamensky estate
In the very center of Nizhny Novgorod there is an old mansion with columns, which looks out over the Volga from a high hill. The Kamenskys' house on the Nizhnevolzhskaya embankment keeps many secrets and rightfully deserves to be in this rating.
The Kamensky house on the Nizhnevolzhskaya embankment keeps many secrets.
The city manor was built at the beginning of the 20th century for the Kamensky family of merchants, who owned their own river shipping company. But the owners did not live in their luxurious mansion for long. In 1918, the head of the family was arrested for tax evasion, and after a while Kamensky had to flee to Moscow, fleeing persecution.
The merchants left all heirlooms in the estate, hiding the treasures under the stairs. They hoped to return home someday, but they could not do it.
In the 1970s, the building was transferred to one of the municipal departments, and during the restoration, a worker discovered the same treasure that had been left by a fugitive family until better times. Soon the builder was accused of stealing part of the valuables and sent into exile, where he died.
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An urban legend says that a curse was imposed on the Kamenskys' house. The former owners allegedly cursed the mansion after they were forced to flee. Sometimes at night, passing by an abandoned estate, you can hear strange voices, groans, laughter, ancient music and the clink of dishes. They say that these are the souls of the deceased owners.
The manor is currently under restoration.
Phantoms of the Zarechnaya metro station
The Zarechnaya metro station in Nizhny Novgorod is considered the most mystical place in the entire Nizhny Novgorod subway. Various cataclysms periodically occur there, and night passengers sometimes see strange translucent white figures in the tunnels. Many believe that the ghosts of the dead workers roam the station, but there really was a fact of deaths in the metro.
According to legend, the souls of the dead builders still roam the metro stations.
On July 13, 1984, during the construction of the Moskovskaya station in the pit, walls collapsed, as a result of an accident two students who were involved in the work were killed.
According to legend, the souls of the dead builders still roam the metro stations, frightening late passengers. The workers themselves confirm that strange sounds are regularly heard in the tunnels, including the clatter of jackhammers and the grinding of iron, which can only be during the construction of the station. And some passengers talk about a ghost in a helmet, who was noticed more than once between the wall and the train carriage at the Zarechnaya station.
Abandoned village Shkavyrna
Abandoned villages in the Russian outback are always overgrown with rumors and legends. The Nizhny Novgorod village of Shkavyrnu, which is located in the Lyskovsky district, did not bypass the languages.
Its main feature is that, despite many years of oblivion, everything in the village looks as if people still live there. The researchers who have been there claim that all things in the houses continue to lie in their places, including valuable ones. One gets the feeling that the residents left the settlement just a couple of minutes ago.
Residents of neighboring villages say that a certain woman in black lives in Shkavyrna, who takes travelers who look there. This story could have been considered a simple urban legend, if not for the facts. There are really a lot of cases of missing people in that area. And even marauders bypass Shkavyrna.
The ghost village of Malaya Kuverba
Another strange phenomenon can be observed in the Tonshaevsky district. A semi-transparent ghost village is often noticed by mushroom pickers and hunters who find themselves in those places.
On the slope of the ravine, at a certain period of the day, you can see the roofs of houses and the light of the sun reflected in the windows. But if you get closer, the settlement disappears like a scattered fog. There are no people, no animals, no buildings of any kind.
Local historians became interested in such an unusual phenomenon and began to study old maps. It turned out that once there really was a small village called Malaya Kuverba. But over time, the inhabitants moved to Bolshaya Kuverba in the neighborhood, and the settlement gradually disappeared from the face of the earth. After many years of oblivion, the village reminds of itself again with ghostly outlines on the hills.
Lake Svetloyar and the city of Kitezh
Perhaps this is the most famous legend of the Nizhny Novgorod region. In 1237, Holy Russia suffered from the invasion of the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Refugees, fleeing from the invaders, flocked to the city of Kitezh, which was located in a hard-to-reach swampy area in the northern part of the Nizhny Novgorod region, near the village of Vladimirskoe (now the Resurrection district). People hoped that the Basurmanes would not get them there, but the Mongols were still able to find the city thanks to a certain traitor.
The enemy invaders stormed the walls of Kitezh for several days, and it soon became clear that the city would not withstand. Then all of its inhabitants closed in churches and began to pray for salvation. And unexpectedly Kitezh, together with people and houses, went under the water, never reaching the Mongol conquerors.
A large lake Svetloyar was formed in its place. They say that sometimes you can see the outlines of churches and mansions in it. And on a moonlit night, bell chimes and church chants are heard from under the water.
May Day Triangle
Everyone knows about the Bermuda Triangle in the Atlantic Ocean, where ships and planes disappear, but there is a similar anomalous zone in the Nizhny Novgorod region. In the south of the region is the "Pervomaisky Triangle", which includes the Sarovskaya Pustyn, founded in 1705, and the center is located near the city of Pervomaisk.
There are unusual twisted trees growing here, the trunks of which bend to one side.
Initially, the zone had negative energy, which Seraphim of Sarov managed to weaken. He was able to imprison the "dead force" of these places in stones.
Unusual twisted trees, the trunks of which bend to one side, grow within the boundaries of the "May Day Triangle". Researchers claim that such phenomena are often recorded at UFO landing sites, as well as where there is an increased electromagnetic background.
Locals note that in the anomalous zone, people often experience unexplained hallucinations.
Mock Island
At the end of the 19th century, the trade in bast and bast was brought to the island from the Nizhny Novgorod fair, hence its name.
A cross was erected on Mochany in memory of the victims.
Vacationers with shashliks and tents like to come to Mochany Island in the summer, as it is located almost within the city limits - opposite the Chkalovskaya stairs. But those who know the history of this place and are superstitious people will never stay there overnight.
The first tragedy occurred on the island on the night of 17-18 August 1918, when 15 monks of the Oran monastery, its abbot Archimandrite Augustine and the abbot of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God Nikolai Orlovsky were shot there. Since then, the island has become a site of massacres, with bodies dumped directly into the Volga. In total, during the years of the Red Terror (1917-1923), according to various sources, up to five thousand people who were not pleasing to the Soviet government were shot there.
On September 30, 2004, a wooden cross was erected on Mochany in memory of those killed, and two years later it was replaced with a stone one.
Vadskaya Voklina
Residents of the Vadsky district prefer to stay away from Lake Mordovskoye, because even in the hottest weather it remains very cold and does not freeze in winter. And all because there is a strong current under the water, and a karst sinkhole is formed at the bottom - a vokline connecting the reservoir with an underground river.
In no case should you dive into the vokline itself without a rope tied to the boat, otherwise you may not return. The underground hole has killed more than one adventurer who is drawn to the karst cave.
There is a legend about a monster living in the bottomless abyss of Lake Mordovskoye. Some believe that something inexplicable, like the Loch Ness monster, drags bathers into its underwater cave. There were indeed cases of people disappearing without a trace in the reservoir. But the divers who descended to the very bottom did not find confirmation of the legends. Although, maybe the monster was just skillfully hiding?